Advice on selling MSP

peepsalot

Member
Contributor
:
Black 03 MSP
Hey folks,

Haven't been too active on the forums in a long time. The MSP developed rod knock a while back and it's just been sitting around collecting dust as I've not felt like dealing with it.

I already have a replacement car, and I'm set on getting rid of the protege, I'm just looking for advice on the best course of action. Basically I'm looking at 3 options.

1. Try to sell as is and get probably next to nothing for a busted car
2. Swap in a working engine and sell as working car
3. Part out everything and sell/scrap the shell

The current mods on the car are:
GHL Downpipe
BEGI intercooler with custom cold pipe/ blow through MAF
GTspec front strut tower bar
M Factory LSD
Delsing clunk fix brackets
Tokico illuminas
street unit engine mounts
AEM CAI
AWR MSP aluiminum radiator
626 intake manifold
steed speed exhaust manifold
1sty grounding kit
daveb rings

There might be a couple others mods that I'm forgetting at the moment, but that's most of them.
 
smells like another part-out !!!

Oh noes it's a trap!
Don't part it out:( the proteges are a beautiful species and there are fewer and fewer everyday. Pretty soon there will only be a handful left:(
 
Dont part it out, if you want to go back to stock to trade in/sell i have the entite stock rad, fan, smic, intake and platic pipe setup. If you want to swap the motor I dont live far and i would be
Happy to help out. Just dont part it out, we all
Love these cars too much for that. I could always use more fellow local MSP enthusiasts.
 
+1, the car is a dying breed. Let's keep the remaining ones alive. Swap a used motor in it and call it a day
 
I'm not going to miss it when it's gone. It's already dead to me, and I'm very much over it. It's a weak motor that was never designed for forced induction, a worthless factory diff that fails exactly when your warranty is up, a clunky suspension(which still clunked for me after "clunk fix" brackets), a headunit that failed twice on me, once under warranty, the second time, well... I don't have a working radio, a radiator with cheap plastic endtanks that crack and lose all coolant, overheating your bad engine, exhaust manifold that cracks, intake manifold that drops butterfly screws into your combustion chamber... yeah this car is a real ******* gem.
 
All true, but once you get over allllll that, Its a great little car. Swap motors and sell it if you really hate it. No use to part it out though. These cars have a hard enough time trying to stay in 1 piece as it is. They should make a Final Destination movie for the MSP.
 
final destination that's great! swap a new motor in and sell so you can get all your money at once unlike a part out and give someone esle a chance at owning a piece of mazda history.
 
Since you've had a bad experience and won't miss than sell it as is and be done with it. Someone will buy it and fix it so it is driveable once again.
 
I'm not going to miss it when it's gone. It's already dead to me, and I'm very much over it. It's a weak motor that was never designed for forced induction, a worthless factory diff that fails exactly when your warranty is up, a clunky suspension(which still clunked for me after "clunk fix" brackets), a headunit that failed twice on me, once under warranty, the second time, well... I don't have a working radio, a radiator with cheap plastic endtanks that crack and lose all coolant, overheating your bad engine, exhaust manifold that cracks, intake manifold that drops butterfly screws into your combustion chamber... yeah this car is a real ******* gem.

So only 4 real problems and you want to junk a car. You better by brand new cars for the rest of your life and keep them for less than 30,000mi or you'll never be happy with any car. Too bad you're only focusing on the negative. Put a 700 dollar motor in it and sell it to someone who will appreciate it. You'll get your money back out of it...
 
Damn if you hate the car so much you should just let me take it off your hands. I have no problem replacing a stereo and swaybar bushings and dont need 30lbs of boost to enjoy driving a turbo car so a stock motor would work fine. These cars are no less reliable than anything else made in 03 is nowadays, i still see BJ proteges driving around everyday and i've had good luck with and enjoyed owning and driving both my p5 and my MSP.

Seriously though if you need any work done on the car I would be happy to do it. What part of Austin are you in?
 
Everyone on this forum has had multiple issues with this car including me. My LSD crapped out on me once, my headunit crapped out on me, my stock radiator with those "crappy endtanks" you are talking about, yeah that crapped out on me. My exhuast manifold is starting to crack and is missing two bolts after being replaced three times. The water return elbow busted two times, my water pump went out, the stock sub blew out, had a bad throwout bearing, all four motor mounts were busted, I also have the clunk. I could go on and on with the negative things. But you know what? The good outweighs the bad. I love driving the hell out of my car. Yes, it has its issues, but fix those issues with better quality parts and you will love it too. Many people on here have blown their motors or spun a rod bearing. You know what most of them did? They got a replacement motor or built a new motor with forged goodies. So, you have two choices, either get a replacement motor and call it a day, or just get rid of it. But getting another car will do nothing but introduce you to that cars problems. Every car has issues, anything with moving components will wear out and eventually fail over time. It's part of the game. It's actually not that bad of a car considering it was the first Mazdaspeed platform. But if you are deadset on getting rid of it, just get it over with because asking for everyone's opinion on what you should do? You should already know most of the responses are going to be to either rebuild or get a replacement, I mean this is a forum full of mazda enthusiasts and most of us enjoy our cars. So, of course we are going to tell you to fix it so we can see you enjoy your car too. In the end, good luck with everything. These cars get more and more rare by the day. Hopefully this one will get to breathe again soon.
 
I know exactly how you feel and I've had less problems than most. Despite how fun and rare this car is when it's working, at some point it is time to move on.

Here is my advice. If you are going to sell a car, make it as stock as possible with as little issues as possible. These engines are fairly cheap and easy to come by. Now an engine swap isn't the world's easiest job, nor is it the hardest. Whether you do it yourself or not is entirely up to you and your situation, but the car is pretty much worth nothing unless it can be taken on a test drive.

You can do a part out and probably make a few grand, but it's going to be a lot of work. Removing parts, taking pictures, dealing with forum members, posts, PM's, shipping, complaints, etc. I am not sure it is worth anyone's time and frustration. It's not a quick process. A quick glance in the marketplace will show part outs that are a year old or more. And where are those hunks of metal sitting for that year? In someone's garage or side yard? Not exactly a classy look.

Your aftermarket parts are still worth some money and those can sit around in a shed, closet, or basement until people want them. If the new owner of your car wants them great, but you won't get anything for them on the car. So that will be up to you and the buyer. Take them off the car and return it to stock first before you try to negotiate. I've seen too many people list cars at a particular price, but ask for more if the buyer wants to keep certain parts on the car. It never works out for the seller that way.

If you don't have the stock radiator/smic/ic piping/manifold/down pipes etc, then returning to stock may be a bit of a chore. You'll just have to make the call on each. The IC and pipes for instance are an easy swap. The radiator isn't bad if you can find a stock one that isn't leaking. The Illuminas however probably aren't worth the time. DP and manifold definitely worth it since the engine has to be swapped anyway.

If it is returned to stock and drives ok, working radio, not too many rattles and clunks, it should go fairly quickly for about $5k private party or $3500 if you trade it in assuming typical mileage. A quick guess at the easy parts puts you at another $1500 or so I would think.

If you try to get rid of it the way it is, I don't see it going for more than $2500.
 
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